


Pines Under The Mountain

by SilvanSagevale



Category: Gravity Falls, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Frisk, Alternate Universe- Dipper & Mabel's Parent were extremely distant, Chara Named Virgil is a Boy for this Story, Child Neglect, Dipper & Mabel Replace Frisk, Gen, Passive Chara, Spoilers - Pacifist Route, feels trip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 08:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6146992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilvanSagevale/pseuds/SilvanSagevale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Exploring Mt. Ebbot looming over Gravity Falls the Pines Twins fell into the Underground. Now they must find their way out but it is easier said than done with monsters and a homicidal daisy blocking their path, and a strange sense of nostalgia for Dipper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Howdy!

Dipper Pines groaned in pain as consciousness began to return to his slightly concussed mind. Slowly he flipped over from his aching stomach to his less aching back and looked up. Above he could see the ceiling of the cavern and the hole he and Mab…  
“Mable!” Dipper shouted as his memory finally kicked in. As quickly as his bruised bones and muscles would let him Dipper got up and frantically began to search the cavern, or rather cave.  
He found that he had fallen onto a bed of golden flowers, buttercups? Somehow they must have broken his fall because a fall from that height should have broken half the bones in his body at least. He could only hope Mable was as lucky as him.  
Fortunately the cave was small and didn’t take long to find his sister in the thick bed of flowers.  
Though still unconscious as Dipper examined her Mable didn’t seem any worse of then him. In fact she seemed to have fared better, though there was a nasty bruise on her head that worried him.  
“Mable, Mable come on wake up, if you have a concussed you can’t sleep!” He said to the young girl and after some prodding she stirred and began to wake.  
“Dipper?” She mumbled as she sat up and rubbed her head, only to hiss in pain as she pressed on the ugly purple bruise on head. “What happened?” She groaned her question.  
“Well, we were walking through the woods looking for clues on the rumors of people disappearing; the earth suddenly opened beneath us, then gravity did the rest.” Dipper explained, trying to make light of their predicament a bit to ease the mood.  
“Gravity did a lot, ow.” Mable said lamely as she stood up with Dipper’s help. She her legs nearly gave out but she managed to stay on her feet and was confident enough she didn’t need to lean on her brother for support.  
So with both of them now vertical, the twins looked up at the hole the fell through. It was wide with the odd root dangling around it; the foliage must have hid it from their view or held a thin layer of dirt together that couldn’t handle their weight. But that wasn’t important, what was important was that it was four storied above them and there was no way to climb the walls to reach it.  
“Do you think your grappling hook could reach the hole?” Dipper asked as he tried to judge the exact distance it was.  
“Maybe.” Mable took out her grappling hook and shot it at the hole, but just as it looked like it was going to clear the ceiling it bounded off of nothing and the air where it hit rippled.  
“What!?” They both cried out with confusion.  
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work!” A cheerful voice said behind them with a good natured laugh.  
The Mystery Twins quickly turned around, startled by the voice, but they didn’t see anything. At their furtherly confused expressions the voice piped in again.  
“Down here!”  
They looked down and they saw another flower…but this one had a face. A face that looked like it belonged an on 50s silent cartoon character. It waved at them with a friendly smile with one of its leaves.  
“Howdy! I’m Flowey, Flowey the Flow-”  
“AHHH!!! Sin against nature!” Mable screamed hysterically as she hid behind Dipper, peaking over his shoulder to watch the little plant cautiously.  
Flowey gave the girl and the wide-eyes boy a worried smile, his pedals wilting a bit sympathetically. “Golly, I didn’t mean to scare you! I just wanted to help, you two look awful lost.”  
Dipper could only stare at the thing with skepticism. “There is a cartoon flower talking to me asking if we need help. Yup, I the fall killed us.”  
The flower let out a giggle that was almost too sweet to the ears, and that was enough to win over Mable who crept over the Dipper’s side and lowered herself closer to Flowey’s level. “Hehehehe, no you’re not dead. You fell into the Underground!” Seeing that they were still confused he decided to continue. “Gosh, I can tell you’re both very confused, guess I’ll just have to show you how things work down here, huh?”  
Mable was about to eagerly agree with the little flower and Dipper grabbed her and huddled with her, their backs to the flower that titled his head with a curious frown on his face.  
“I don’t like this Mable, there is something off about this “Flowey” that I can’t quite place.” Dipper whispered his concerns.  
“Oh come on, bro-bro. Just looks at him, he’s so cute, and how much harm could a little flower do?” She argued looking back to smile at the flower, who returned the smile and waved at her.  
“Mmmm…” Dipper hummed unsurely, also looking back. “Mmmm…” He hummed again, looking at Mable. He then clenched his eyes shut and with a groan he relented. “Urgh, fine. We’ll listen to the freakin’ flower.”  
Faster than you can say “glitter” Mable dragged Dipper back to the flower. Flowey actually flinched a bit from the suddenness of their approach but quickly recovered. “Alright then, where we go!”  
Both children suddenly felt a strange pulling sensation in their chest where their hearts would be and as they simultaneously made to grab at the feeling they saw an intense glow radiate from there.  
On Mable’s chest a golden heart appeared, shining brightly as it pulsed with her heartbeat and on Dippers a deep red heart appeared glowing with an inner strength as it too pulsed his heartbeat.  
Seeing Dipper’s made the flower hesitate for a moment. For that moment Dipper was sure he saw recognition, a kind of nostalgia in the plants eyes. But the expression was so brief he could be sure.  
“See those hearts?” Flowey asked rhetorically, quickly recovering from the brief pause. “Those are your Souls, the very culmination of your beings.”  
‘Our souls?’ Dipper thought, this somehow sounding familiar.  
“Your souls start out small, weak and frail. But you can make it stronger if you gain a lot of LV.” Flowey explained.  
“What’s LV?” Mable asked curiously.  
“Sounds like we’re in an RPG.” Dipper commented, trying to be aloof.  
“Why LOVE of course!” Flowey said cheerily, giving a wink…was that an anime eye-twinkle? “You want lots of LOVE don’t ya?”  
Urgh, this think was just oozing sugary cheer like a busted candy dispenser. And Mable was eating it up like Smile Dip.  
Then a number of white floating pellets appeared from him, forming a half-circle over the flower’s head. “Down here we share love through…” He paused looking at the projectiles his smile changed in a subtle way. Mable didn’t notice but Dipper knew something was up. “Little white “Friendliness Pellets”.” They suddenly shot towards the twins at the slow pace. “Catchall you can!”  
Mable was about to do just that, but then Dipper tackled her and they missed, flying over the twins heads.  
“What the heck!” Mable complained.  
“There is something seriously wrong here Mable! You don’t shoot friendship at people!” Dipper exclaimed.  
“Heh heh, HEHEHEHEHA!” They heard Flowey laughing turn from endearing to sinister almost instantly. “You know what going on, don’t you?” He ask, his voice reverberating on itself in strange tone shifts and his face stretched into a maniacal toothy grin. “HAHAHAHAHA, Idiots, who can pass up an opportunity like this? In this world it’s Kill or BE Killed!”  
Before they could react a ring of bullets surrounded the twins, leaving no room for escape. Flowey’s face shifted into a more sinister smile, one that wouldn’t be out of place on a gargoyle. “DIE.” He seemed to order before cackling like a maniac and the bullets slowly closed in.  
“Dipper?” Mable murmured worriedly, feeling terrible for letting herself ne tricked so easily.  
“It’ll be okay, we’ll get out of this.” Dipper tried to reassure his sister, holding her close in an attempt to protect her from the projectiles.  
But somebody came.  
Suddenly a blast of blue fire struck the murder flower, sending it careening away and dispersing.  
Both of the Pines Twins looked around in bewilderment as the blue flames slowly turn orange and died away. Not only that but their souls were still visible on their chests, though not glowing anymore, they almost looked like part of their clothes.  
“What a horrible creature, tormenting these poor children.” The most comforting voice either of them ever heard admonished behind them.  
They did not expect what they saw when turned around.  
Before them was a woman but she wasn’t human. She looked like a humanoid goat. She was covered in snow white fur; she had paws instead of feet instead of hooves, two short horns on her head, long floppy ears, and two short, thick fangs that almost blended into her fur, or maybe that was just how their lips were shaped. She also wore regal looking purple and white robes with a symbol or heraldry on the chest in white.  
Slowly the…satyr didn’t sound right…caprataur? She kneeled down to their level and gave them a comforting smile, and despite himself Dipper couldn’t help but let the strange creatures smile affect him. “Greetings little ones, I am Toriel the Caretaker for the Ruins.” She spoke again, in that eerily familiar and all too comforting maternal voice.  
“You’re beautiful…” Mable said without thinking.  
Toriel face turned to one of surprise and went a little pink before she laughed good-naturedly at the complement. “Oh, I’m flattered but a silly old woman like me is far past her prime.” She waved it off modestly. “I was on my way to tend the gra-flowers…” She corrected herself. “It was a good thing too, I almost too late.”  
Dipper was about to say something but was cut off when he sneezed and a chill ran up his spine. He didn’t notice before due to the adrenaline that was rushing through his system but it was incredibly cold down here. Mable too was shivering and he could see her breath as well as her own.  
“Oh dear, you two must be freezing!” Toriel gasped in what seemed to be genuine concern, she offered her paw-like hand to them. “Come, my home is not far from here you can warm yourselves by my fireplace.” She said in a strong, motherly tone that seemed to be her default way of speaking.  
But after their run in with their last “friend” Dipper was not eager to trust anyone down here again. “How do we know you won’t backstab us? That flower was all friendly too until he tried to kill us.” Dipper questioned suspiciously.  
Toriel’s smile dimmed slightly but she never dropped it, and it still held the same maternal concern. “I promise you that I will protect and care for you for as long as you stay within the ruins.” She reassured almost pleadingly, her eyes locking with his and Mable’s.  
“Dipper, I think we can trust her.” Mable spoke up, her hand resting on her brother’s shoulder as a sign of reassurance. “Flowey was just a fluke, not everyone down here can be bad.” She concluded, her optimism ever shining through.  
He wanted to disagree, he wanted take Mable by the hand and simply run pass the strange goat woman who, despite him knowing with complete certainty he never met before, felt so damned familiar! But that same feeling also told him that he can trust Toriel and that everything she’d do for them would be in their best interest.  
“Dipper, please trust me.” Mable pleaded moving her hand from his shoulde to squeeze her brother’s hand. “I’m sure Toriel will help us.”  
“I promise to do my best for you.” Toriel added.  
Finally Dipper cracked, and he accepted Toriel’s offer allowing her to take his hand while he held Mable’s. Together they all stood up and began the journey to Toriel’s home and as they walked she looked down the twins and gave them that motherly smile again, and even though he still wasn’t completely sure he should trust her Dipper couldn’t help but return it with his own small smile, Mable too returning it with a big toothy grin.  



	2. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper and Mabel explore the Ruins while Toriel is away, and discover a little bit more about this world below Gravity Falls.

As they reached the entrance to the Ruins proper, Toriel insisted on giving them some first aid. Though they managed to avoid Flowey’s attacks Dipper and Mabel’s fall into the Underground did not leave them unscathed, Dipper being especially beat up.  
The worst Mabel got was some bruising, a few minor cuts, and a minor concussion that Toriel already took care of, but Dipper had not only similar bruises but as the goat-woman examined him she found very worrying injuries. His chest had an ugly bruise on it that was almost black, it was amazing his ribs weren’t broken, and he also had some cuts on his arms, legs, and one was particularly deep on his face slashed horizontally across his right cheek that he didn’t notice before was bleeding profusely.  
“It’s no big deal; this isn’t the first time I’ve been bruised up.” Pff, yeah, it’s the second time. Still, even if this didn’t feel as bad as when Rumble beat the shit out of him and despite his tough guy act he had to admit this didn’t feel much better in comparison.  
“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re a mess!” Toriel protested as she hands glowed with an ethereal green light. “Now hold still while I heal your injuries.” She placed them on his chest.  
Almost immediately Dipper felt his aches and pains melt away. The black bruise on his chest was now yellows, greens, and browns. The others were nearly gone, the lesser cuts were now only irritated red lines, and the one on his face was much smaller, though it was still open and bled a little bit. Toriel took out a plain looking Band-Aid and placed over the cut on his cheek gently; she held her hand there for a second and gave him a gentle smile before standing up and leading him and Mabel into the ruins.  
“I told you we can trust her, why would she heal us if she was going to hurt us?” Mabel said in an “I told you so” fashion, leaning over his shoulder while gripping both and playful making him shuffle them.  
“Alright, I’ll admit that Toriel seems to be a good person.” Dipper relented with a bit of a chuckle.  
Toriel let out a chuckle of her own at the twins’ antics, holding a hand to her mouth. “I’m glad you think so highly of me, my children but we should get moving, your faces are already starting to turn pink from the cold.” She urged while mirth still bubbled in her voice.  
It was just as Toriel entered the Ruins before them that Mabel notices a small yellow…thing on the ground next to the stairs. “Wait Dipper, what is that?” she asked, grabbing him by the collar of his vest before he was out of reach. It looked like a small four pronged star or spark that gently spun in place just above the ground.  
Before Dipper even knew what he was doing he had already reached out to touch is and it flashed a bright light just as his fingertips met its non-surface. Immediately his mostly healed injuries vanished as if they never happened, the aches disappeared, and even the deep cut on his face that Toriel couldn’t completely shut felt like it closed completely and mended in the span of 2 seconds under the bandage. And he was filled with…something…an drive to get through this place with his sister.  
You and Mabel felt the shadow of the Ruins looming over you and are filled with Determination.  
[A Series of Wingdings symbols were supposed to be here but for some reason AO3 cuts the chapter in half at the font change so just imagine them. They were supposed to say that Dipper and Mabel's Souls were linked to the temporal anomaly.] [File 1 Saved]  
Dipper blinked in confusion of the symbols running through his head and the voice before them. It was strange, he didn’t think that thought but the voice sounded-  
“What was-Dipper did you feel that?” Mable said in a slightly panicked tone, interrupting his thoughts.  
“I don’t know, but look!” Dipper exclaimed gesturing toward the injuries he no longer had. “Whatever that thing is it completely healed me, even the cut on my face Toriel couldn’t, and I feel like I can run full tilt up and down the mountain for hours!”  
“I feel the same way; oh my God, Toriel! We better follow her before she gets worried!” Mable reminded herself and Dipper of the kindly goat-woman.  
“Oh, right, let’s go!” Dipper agreed and as he ran passed her he gripped Mabel’s hand and the duo entered the ruins.  
“Oh there you two are, I was beginning you both wandered off.” Toriel said with a sigh of relief as soon as she saw them pass through the doorway, placing a hand over her heart to emphasize her worry.  
“Sorry, we thought we saw something but it turned out to be nothing.” Dipper said quickly. Mabel gave him a look but decided to let it go, how were they going to explain the found a hole in space-time that “Saved” something for them and screamed computer gibberish and random symbols at them anyways?  
“Well please refrain from wondering off, the Ruins are easy to get lost in if you don’t know where you’re going.” Toriel tutted but didn’t look angry or upset in the slightest.  
The trek through the ruins was fairly uneventful. As they traversed them Toriel explained the puzzles that littered the ruins and that while monsters my attack them that none of them actually wanted to hurt them and could be talked out of fighting. It wasn’t until they got to the end of a long hallway that things got somewhat interesting.  
“Children, I’m going to go on ahead.” She informed the twins who gave her odd looks. “There is something I must do and I want you two to wait for me here until I return. There are puzzles up ahead that might be dangerous if I don’t explain them”  
“Alright Toriel.” Mabel agreed happily while Dipper looked skeptical.  
Toriel smiled at the hyperactive girl, she then pulled out two large devices and gave them to the twins. “Here take this cell phone.” She said as Mable took it and gave it a quizzical look. “Be good, my children. I’ll try not to be long.” And with that she was gone and so the dynamic duo sat down and waited.  
Dipper looked at the phone with a thoroughly unimpressed expression. The phones looked ancient, were like big plastic bricks in the shape of an old landline phone. “This thing looks like a laptop…” He groused.  
“I didn’t know cell phones came this big.” Mabel said with a bit of awe in her voice. She slid her finger across the screen to turn it on but gave it a confused frown when nothing happened.  
“It’s a brick cell Mable, it was made before touch-screens became a thing.” Dipper explained to his sister with an amused chuckle.  
After a while the two began to get bored and they had no way of entertaining themselves. Dipper stood up and stretched his back cracking leaned back. “Hey, let’s go explore the ruins. I’m getting bored just sitting here.”  
“But Toriel asked us to wait for her here.” Mabel argued uncertainly.  
“We’ll only be gone for a few minutes and if we get lost we can just call her.” Dipper reasoned before turning toward the doorway. “Well, I’m gonna go. You can wait here if you want. Alone. With nothing to do.” His voice taking on a teasing tone.  
“Urgh, fine!” Mabel relented quickly before she bounced to her feet and quickly fell into step beside her bother.  
The first thing they noticed when they entered the room was another one of those Save Points, as Dipper decided to call them, hovering over a pile of leaves. Seeing as the last one didn’t do anything harmful, and in fact healed them completely with an energy boost, they decided to “Save” again.  
As they walked Dipper whistled in astonishment. “Wow, this place looks so old it must have been here for decades, centuries even.” He observed quietly, his breath misting in the cold air.  
“It looks like it has been abandoned for about that long too.” Mable commented with a somewhat sad tone. “Does Toriel live here all by herself? I mean the only other monsters we’ve seen down here are those frog-things, those super shy fairies, and Flowey. And none of them seem much for conversation.”  
They both shivered as they remembered that demented daisy.  
“I don’t know Mable, for all we know she’s the last of her kind and has been trapped down here like us.” The cap-wearing twin guessed, and judging from the total lack of maintenance it was probably true.  
As they entered another long hallway the phone Toriel rang, startling them in the otherwise too quite ruins.  
Mabel took the phone out of her skirt pocket and accepted the call, putting it on speaker as she did so Dipper could also hear.  
[Hello this is Toriel] The familiar if slightly garbled voice of the kindly woman emitted from the outdated device. [I just realized that I may have left some things lying around, if you find them would you please pick them up for me?]  
“Sure we can do that.” Dipper accepted the request.  
[Also, for no reason in particular, do you prefer cinnamon or butterscotch?] She asked in a way that utter failed at any kind of subtlety.  
“Um, Cinn” “Butterscotch!” Mable shouted excitedly into the receiver, cutting off Dipper and probably deafening the poor woman’s phone ear for a few seconds.  
[Hehe, alright. Thank you both.] Toriel giggled lightly at Mabel’s energetic response before hanging up.  
The twins took exactly one step when the phone went off again. Mable accepted the call with a bit of confusion.  
[Um, well, neither of you dislike cinnamon do you? I mean, you wouldn’t turn your noses if you found it on your plates?] Toriel asked somewhat nervously, like she made a huge mistake that she had no way of fixing.  
“No, either is fine.” The twins said at the same time and they stared at each other for a second before laughing at each other.  
[Oh, good, thank you for your time.] Toriel said with a relieved sigh before the phone clicked off.  
“She worries a lot doesn’t she?” Mabel said as they continued their way through the ruins, Dipper only nodded in agreement.  
For a while nothing seemed to happen, they solved some progression puzzles that were not nearly as dangerous as Toriel made them out to be, they stumbled across a “Spider Bake Sale” and with the bit of gold coins they found scatter here and there they were able to get a couple donuts they planned on have later. But it wasn’t until they came across a wide balcony that things really began to fall into perspective.  
“Oh my god.” Mabel gasped in awe while Dipper simply let his jaw hang open at the sight.  
Spanning before them, as far as they could see, was a massive underground city. Dark and decrepit from age and abandonment, patches of moss so large and thick they could see a quarter of what looked like a palace was covered in it.  
“It’s a city, no, it’s a small kingdom!” Dipper exclaimed in shock at the sight, nearly overwhelmed.  
“But, where is everyone? Why is Toriel the only one here?” Mabel asked, confused and worried.  
“I don’t know, let’s keep moving.” Dipper said quickly turning and walking away, wanting to get away from the sight as quickly as possible. He didn’t know why, but this vast and empty city deeply upset him.  
“Dipper? Dipper!” Mabel called out as she quickly followed him out; she found him standing just outside of the doorway his head hung low and his shoulders tense. She was at his side almost immediately and she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Dipper, are you okay? What was that all about?” She asked her brother worriedly.  
“Haha…” He chuckled humorlessly, it was taking everything he had not to burst into tears and he had no idea why he felt like he should be in the first place. “I don’t know Mabel; I’ve been feeling weird ever since we fell down here.” He said with a strained smile. “Mabel, I feel like I’ve been here before but I know I haven’t. I feel a strange nostalgia when I look at Toriel, what Flowey said about Souls, even looking at our Souls feels familiar.” He clutched at the red heart that was the metaphysical embodiment of his souls that pressed against his chest.  
“Do you want to rest for a while?” Mabel asked with concern.  
Dipper shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Just…I don’t know, but I’ll be okay. Let’s just keep moving.” He relaxed his shoulders and raised his head already feeling better. That’s Mable for you; she never had to do much to make him feel better.  
“Okay, how about we go that way?” She offered toward the large open gateway with a seemingly dead tree beyond it.  
“Yeah.” Dipper agreed, clearing his throat.  
About the same moment they approached the tree they heard a familiar voice.  
“Oh dear, that took a longer than I thought it would.” They heard Toriel’s voice from behind the tree, a second later their phone rang. They heard Toriel gasp his she leaned over to see passed the large tree, her phone placed against one of her fluffy, floppy ear.  
After that she couldn’t get to the twins fast enough, and almost instantly she was kneeling in front of them. “Oh my god what are you two doing here? Are you hurt?” She nearly shouted worriedly as she examined them for any new injuries.  
“Toriel calm down! We’re fine, the worst we have are tired legs.” Dipper said reassuringly to the dotting goat-lady.  
Seeing that he was right, Toriel stood back up, place her hand over her heart and sighed in relief. “Thank goodness, well since you’re already here let us go to my home. It’s just beyond this tree.”  
Toriel’s home was a small stone house and as they approached the twins noticed yet another Save Point and uses it as they entered it. The moment they were in the house their noses were immediately greeted with the smell of cinnamon and butterscotch.  
“You smell that?” Mabel asked her brother giddily while tugging on his arm.  
“Surprise, I’ve got a Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie in the oven!” Toriel exclaimed with a smile.  
‘So that’s why she asked which we preferred and why she called back all worried? She must have started on one and added the other to get the best of both.’ Dipper concluded in his head.  
“I want you both to be as comfortable as possible during your stay here.” The goat woman said with a motherly smile. “So we’ll hold off on snail pie for now.”  
That sounded like she’s expecting them to stay here for a while.  
“Come, I have something to show you.” Toriel beckoned, she took them both by their hands and let the Pines twins down a hall. They trip was only a short few steps though, as Toriel stopped them in front of a door with them on either side of her. “Your very own room!” She nearly gushed. “I hope you both enjoy your time here.” She concluded the statement with an affectionate hand placed on both twins’ heads, gently rubbing their scalps.  
“Uh, Ms. Toriel…” Dipper started but was cut off by the monster woman.  
“Oh, something burning! Uh, I’ll be back, go ahead and get settled in while I’m gone!” She stammered as she sprinted down the hall to the other end of the house.  
Seeing as Toriel would be busy with the pie for a while, the tins decided to take her up on her offer and they entered the room together.  
The room was a fair size, not big but not small either. There were two beds but one had a light layer of dust on its headboard, suggesting one was brought out of storage or something recently though both had clean sheets, blankets, and such; there were also some dressers a box filled with toys at the foot of the dustier bed, another box in the corner filled with different sized and styled shoes.  
“Ah, what a cute little room!” Mabel gushed as she ran over to the bed on the right side of the room and jumped in, bouncing a bit and sending what little dust that still clung to it into the air.  
Not what the words Dipper would use but yes, it was a nice room. He strode over to the other bed and just looking at it made his eyelid heavy. It was only now that he realized how tired he felt now that he wasn’t being attacked by a homicidal daisy, being dragged around by a seemingly kind and motherly goat lady, or exploring the ruins.  
Despite his best efforts Dipper collapsed onto the bed and fell dead asleep.


	3. Mother Knew Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A great tragedy forces Dipper and Mabel to discover a new power.

The first thing Dipper noticed as he began to regain consciousness from the clutches of sleep was the smell of cinnamon and butterscotch.  
‘Did Grunkle Stan take up baking or something?’ He thought groggily. ‘Oh god, what if Mable did?’  
It was then the boy opened his eyes and it was then that he remembered where he was and what happened. “Oh yeah, underground with a potentially homicidal faun that saved us with a definitely homicidal flower.” Dipper said to himself as he stared at the ceiling.  
A moment later he heard humming from behind the door growing louder as the person neared it and it was then that he noticed that Mabel’s bed was empty. Before he could panic though the door opened and Mabel walked in with a fork in her mouth and two plates with slices of pie on them, the one in her left hand missing a couple pieces.  
“Hm, hm, hm, hm, hmmm, hm?” She hummed before stopping suddenly, seeing her brother away she smiled, the fork pointing up from her mouth shifting and said cheerily. “Mornin’ Difer, yu seep goob?” Her speech horrible garbled by the fork in her mouth.  
“Mabel, what the hell are you doing!?” Dipper exclaimed quietly so as not to alert Toriel.  
Mabel gasped in surprise, dropping he fork that luckily landed on her plate, she looked confused and kinda hurt at her brother’s question and tone. “I was…helping with the pie and…I thought I’d bring you some for when you…woke up…” She replied with a look akin to that of a kicked puppy.  
Dipper felt like a total ass for making his sister feel bad, but she shouldn’t have left to interact with a complete stranger alone. Even if he personally felt, for reasons he couldn’t comprehend, that Toriel was trust worthy. “I know Toriel seems nice but we can’t be sure of that yet. We should stick together until we know she’s not gonna turn on us like that flower did.”  
“I’m sorry.” Mabel apologized.  
“No, no I’m sorry.” Dipper also apologized. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”  
“It’s just…Mom just been so nice to us, and just feel like we can trust her.” Mabel hugged herself as best she could with two plates of pie in her hands and a small smile crept on her perpetually blushing face. “I feel safe around her.”  
“Mom? Why did you call Toriel mom?” Dipper asked with confusion.  
“I don’t know, it just slipped out when she woke me up a while ago to help with the pie, I was still half asleep. She looked…happy that I called her that, so I just kept calling her mom.” The slightly elder twin explained before she gave her brother a worried look. “There’s nothing wrong with that is there.”  
“What about our actual mother?” He asked but he wasn’t really bothered by it.  
Mabel looked a little guilty, but not much. “I hate to admit it, but Tori already feels like more of a parent than mom and dad ever did.”  
Dipper couldn’t disagree with that since he kinda felt the same way. Their parents were never around much during their lives, always working or God knows what. When they said there would be “family bonding” over the summer they were so excited to finally spend a significant amount of time with their parent, only to have their hopes crushed when they were sent off to live with a relative they’ve never heard of before.  
Don’t get them wrong, they love their Grunkles Stan and Ford very much and loved it in Gravity Falls, but it still hurt that their parents would rather ship with off instead of actually spending time with them.  
“Can’t fault you for that…” Dipper said and trailed off. He then remembered the smell of the pie slices which were still in Mabel’s hands and decided to change the subject and lighten the mood. “So, uh…that pie any good?” He ventured.  
Mabel gave a soft appreciative smile and handed him the whole slice before sitting next to him with her own slightly eaten slice. “It’s super good, bro. I didn’t even know Bscotch-Cinnamon Pie existed before!”  
With a ringing endorsement like that how could he resist? Dipper grabbed his fork and took a chunk off of the golden yellow and brown desert and stuck it in his mouth. The moment his taste buds registered the flavor he stiffened before relaxing into it and shutting his eyes with a blissful look. “Mmm…so good!” The boy moaned out around the fork.  
“I know!” Mabel gushed, kicking her little legs wildly as she too dug into her pie.  
“Whoa what the heck, it’s gone!” Dipper exclaimed as the B-C Pie vanished from his mouth as he swallowed, as if it was made of air.  
Mabel snorted at the astonished look on her brother’s face before explaining. “Yeah, I almost freaked out too. Mom said that monster food is made mostly of magic, so when we eat it, it vanishes but you still get the energy and nutrition. So we get all the benefits with none of the consequences!”  
Dipper looked at his pie with an amazed look. “All you can eat candy without killing your teeth?” He ventured.  
“Infinite cheeseburgers without getting fat!” Mabel cheered with a grin  
“Unlimited ice-cream without stomach aches!” They said in unison with a fist pump.  
“Awesome!” Dipper concluded with a smile before he digging back into his pie.  
It didn’t take long for them to finish their pies and it was then that Mabel decided to show her brother something. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”  
“Wait, Mabel!” They boy’s protests were unheeded as his hyperactive sister grabbed his hand and nearly dragged out of the room and down the hall to the room next door.  
“Mabel what did we just talk about?” Dipper whined.  
“It’s okay, Goat-Mom is busy knitting in the living room.” Mabel reassured her overly paranoid brother as she entered the room.  
“I was exploring the house before I helped Toriel with the pie and I found her room and this.” Mabel said as she pulled Dipper over to a desk with a diary or journal on it.  
“You read her journal? Not cool Mabel.” Dipper admonished.  
“It was already open, and I just read these two pages.” She replied defensively. “But look at this, they’re full of jokes!” She nearly cheered as she began to read from the book. “Why did the skeleton want a friend?” She paused and stared at her brother giddy expectation.  
He just shrugged.  
“Because he was feeling bonely!” She finished just before she burst into laughter.  
“Boo…” Dipper heckled with a thoroughly unamused tone but there was a slight grin on his face.  
“You have no sense of humor.” Mabel groused, sticking her tongue at her ‘humorless’ brother “How about this, Did you hear about the guy who got hit in the head with a soda can? He was lucky it was a Soft Drink!”  
This time the heard a fit of giggles erupt from the door and both of them whipped their heads toward it to see Toriel standing in the doorway trying not to lose it as she giggled into one hand while the other held her stomach.  
“To-Torial I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have come in here and read your journal without permission!” Dipper apologized quickly, scared that despite her mirthful state she may actually be very upset with the siblings’ trespass.  
“No-no its fine!” The faun said through her giggles, slightly mollifying the boy’s worries. “I never said you two come in here, and I did leave the journal wide open, so that’s my fault.”  
“Why is it full of so many puns and one liners?” Mabel asked as she tried to sneak a look at another page only for Dipper the slap her hand away.  
“Oh well…there is a locked door in the Ruins and one day as I was passing it I heard a voice and a knock coming from it.” Toriel began to explain as she sat on her bed and the twins sat on the floor in front of her to listen. “the voice said “Knock, Knock” so I replied “who’s there?” the voice answered “Dishes.” “Dishes who?” I asked. “Dishes a very bad joke!””  
Mabel and Toriel began to giggle in unison while Dipper groaned but couldn’t help grinning at the joke.  
“It was so long since I last heard a good I couldn’t help laughing like a lunatic and ever since then we’d trade jokes back and forth through the door.” Toriel finished with a mirthful smile.  
Mabel got the biggest most sparkly eyed expression on her face as grabbed her cheeks and gasped. “That’s so romantic!” She almost squealed and Dipper rolled his eyes with a sigh, Match-Maker Mabel was back. “You two should meet up in person!” She gushed.  
Toriel’s mouth curved into a smile that was almost sad but not quite, almost nostalgic and she chuckled softly. “No, I’ve already had my time with romance and I’m not interested in trying again.” She chuckled again, this time with more gusto. “Besides, no one’s going to be interested in a silly old woman like me and the door is sealed.”  
“Don’t be silly! You can’t be that old! Our Grunkles Stan and Ford are old!” Mabel insisted.  
“Yeah, you can be older than…what 28, maybe 34-ish?” Dipper ventured with a sheepish shrug, hard to judge her age what with the fur and goat face and all.  
Mabel was about to reprimand her brother for ‘probing a lady about her age’ when Toriel burst out into fits and tucks of giggles and laughter, clutching her stomach like it hurt.  
She wiped away a mirthful tear as she began to calm down and said. “Hahahaha, ahhh, if only you knew my child. Oh!” She started as she remembered something. “But enough about me have somethings for you two!” She said delightedly as she stood up, helped to twins up from the floor and guided them by the hands out of the room and up the hall toward the living area.  
Mabel had already seen it but as Dipper examined it he saw that it was a warm and cozy area. A small dining table sat toward the southwest corner of the room, a large plush recliner near it, a small bookshelf filled with books of different colored covers, and a fireplace with a flame burning within it warming the area was the rest of the house was chilly.  
As they neared the balmy fire Toriel released her gentle grip from the children’s hands and blocked their view of the chair. She seemed to pick something up and turned around to show them what she had.  
In her hands were two scarves and a sweater. The scarves were both the same color, which was a light chocolate brown color with some fringe dangling from the ends but there was one distinction between them. Both had a thick braided line going down the length of them on the center-right side of them and one had a bright yellow line while the other had deep red.  
The sweater was also a deep red color turtle neck style with a blue pine tree on the chest.  
“These are for you!” She chirped happily as she handed the yellow-lined scarf to Mabel and the red-lined scarf and sweater to Dipper. “This part of the Underground has a lot of holes in the ceiling that lets the cold mountain air in, so it gets very chilly in the Ruins.”  
“Wait it does? But other than that one hole we fell in I haven’t seen any others.” Mabel said as she wrapped her scarf around her neck.  
“If I had to make I guess, it’s probably that the trees and shrubbery are so thick that most of the other holes blend in with the dark ceiling.” Dipper speculated as he removed his vest to put on the sweater over his shirt, followed by his scarf before replacing his vest. The sweater hugged his form more than Mabel’s sweaters do and the sleeves stopped at his wrists. His souls still showed on his chest, almost as if it was as much a part of the sweater as the tree design.  
“That’s a very good theory; you’re very smart for your age.” Toriel complimented, getting the boy to flush bashfully.  
Mabel draped herself over her brother shoulders from behind with a big goofy grin. “That’s cuz he’s a huge nerd!” She cheered, pressing her fingers into Dippers cheeks.  
A frown so intense pulled at Dipper’s mouth you could swear it was on the verge of physically falling off his face and Toriel couldn’t help laughing at the twins antics.  
Eventually Dipper was able to shoo away his sister and the trio decided to relax for the time being. Almost immediately he was drawn to the book shelf and one particular book caught his eye. “History of Monsters: Volume I.” Dipper said to himself before opening the book and started to read.  
Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth: Humans and Monsters. Until one day a war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They forced us underground and sealed us within using a powerful magical barrier erected by seven human souls.  
Fearful of further human attacks we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked until we reached the caverns end. This was our new home, which we named “Home”.  
“As great as out king is, he is pretty lousy at names.” Dipper finished with a smirk but it quickly fell as the rest of the passages settled in his mind. ‘Nothing about this was mentioned in our history lessons, how can our history with a whole other race of beings just not exist on the surface?’ He asked himself mentally, absently flipping through random pages, glancing at the illustrations of humans and monster silhouettes. ‘Also, who started the war and why?’  
With that Dipper let out a big, mighty yawn that was soon followed by his sister. Checking a watch he had on it has only been a few hours since the fell so it was fairly late now and they were still tired from the trek up, into, and through Mt. Ebbot.  
“Oh my, even with that nap you must still be exhausted from the day’s events.” Toriel observed allowed with a tone of motherly concern.  
She wasn’t wrong; it took everything Dipper had left not to collapse like he did an hour or so earlier. He didn’t even notice when Toriel picked him and Mabel up and carried them back to their room.  
Before they even knew it Dipper and Mabel were back their beds and drifted back to sleep.  
-  
A few days later Dipper and Mabel returned to the house after exploring, finding little more than they saw yesterday, or the days before that. There was a rather dower ghost named Napstablook they met and Mabel manage to raise his spirit a bit with jokes and encouragement, but that was about it and the ghost disappeared before Dipper could ask him for a way about of the ruins.  
“Mabel, I know you like being with her, I do too, but we can’t stay here forever. Grunkle Stan and Ford must be worried sick about us by now.” Dipper said to his sister with a sad seriousness, the two sitting on one of the beds in their room.  
Mabel looked down sadly. “I know Dipper, but I also don’t want to leave her all alone in here. I get the feeling she been very sad until now.”  
“It’s not like we are gonna abandon her.” Dipper replied, trying to reassure his sister. “Once we find a way out we can visit her from time to time.”  
“But what if there is no way out? What if we can cross the barrier? We’d have left her for nothing.” Mabel argued, remembering the history book Dipper told her about one of the nights before bed.  
“We have to try.” Dipper said with Determination before entering the house. Mabel reached out to stop him but hesitated before sadly following her brother.  
The twins found their self-appointed caretaker in the living area, reading a book on her chair next to the warm fire. Hearing the duo enter the area she looked up from her book and Toriel gave them a warm smile. “Hello my children, how what your exploits through the ruins fair?”  
“Uh, fine. We met a ghost named Napstablook and he seemed nice, if a bit depressed. But Mabel managed to cheer him up some.” Dipper said, rubbing his arm nervously; and anxious knot forming in the pit of his stomach.  
“That’s wonderful to hear!” Toriel said gently. “I hope you two are settling in nicely.” She added sincerely.  
Oh no.  
“I have already put together a curriculum for your education!” Her tone was almost giddy at the notion.  
Please, this is already hard enough.  
“This may come as a surprise but I’ve always wanted to become a teacher.” Her brow creased and her smile became more nervous. “Or maybe not so surprising. Still…” Her face scrunched up into a more thoughtful look before shifting back to her usual cheery demeanor. “What there something you two wanted?”  
Dipper steeled himself while Mabel remained silent behind him, equally as axious as him. Finally he said what needed to be said. “When can we go home?” He said bluntly. No point in dragging this out.  
“Huh?” Hurt and confusion spread across the goat-woman’s face. “Bu-but this is your home now!” She exclaimed, her voice wavering nervously.  
“How do we exit the ruins?” Dipper asked again doing his best not to waver while his sister held back her tears, clutching one of the sleeves of the sweater Toriel made for them.  
“I-I have to do something, wait here for a moment!” Toriel said quickly before sitting up from her chair and nearly ran out of the room toward the stairs that she said led into the basement.  
“Toriel! Mom wait!” Mabel shouted as she ran down the stairs after her, with Dipper on her heels.  
Immediately something felt wrong, instead of a basement the stairs led to a long dimly lit hallway made of purple-grey stone like the rest of the ruins. Toriel had sopped but kept her back to them.  
“You wish to know how to return “home” do you know?” She questioned, her voice even and monotonous. “Ahead lies the end of the ruins, a doorway to the rest of the underground.” She half-turned toward the twins, a grim expression on her face. “I am going to destroy it. No one will ever leave again.” She stated.  
Dipper and Mabel gasped at her declaration and looked at each other nervously, unsure what to say.  
“Now go back upstairs and be good.” Toriel ordered her children before turning away and continuing her way toward the exit.  
They did not listen and continued to follow the woman that had cared for them the last few days. As they walked Toriel began to speak again. “Every human that falls down here meets the same fate.” She began, her face schooled into a neutral frown and her voice still cold and even. “I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die.”  
The children stopped and looked at he with shock and horror, and it was then that Dipper remembered. “The shoes…the toys…” He whispered.  
Toriel stopped as well but did not turn toward them, she spoke. “You naïve children…if you leave the ruins. They…Asgore…will kill you.” She looked over her shoulder at them. “I am only doing this to protect, understand? Now go to your room.” She said more forcefully before continuing on and ended with. “This is your final warning; do not try to stop me.” And then she turned a corner.  
“Dipper, what do we do?” Mabel questioned, frightened of the things Toriel said and the way she was acting.  
“We…we have to follow her Mabel. We have to find a way out.” Dipper said with a hardening resolve, he was determined to get home to the Mystery Shack. Maybe Great Uncle Ford could help them find a way to break the barrier?  
“You want to leave so badly?” Toriel inquired as she heard the twins approaching, a set of large violet double doors with the same emblem as that on her gown emblazoned on them in black. “Hmph. You two are just like the others.”  
“Fine, there is only one way to settle this...” She trailed off as she turned toward them. “Prove yourselves.” She challenged as flames gathered in her hands, but this time they were orange and far more intense. “Show me you have the strength to survive!” Suddenly a black…something spread away from Toriel at an alarming speed, engulfing the area. The twins shielded themselves from it but it passed over them harmlessly. The saw that the world around them had turned black and white and including themselves everything but their Souls, they felt a tug on them and they grew to cover more of their chests, almost as if protecting them.  
Two green bars marked “HP 20/20” appeared as well as an assortment of “buttons” marked [FIGHT], [ACT], and [MERCY].  
Toriel shot her hands forward and a duo of fire bullets soared toward the Mystery Twins. They both shouted in unison before diving out of the way and splitting up as a result.  
“Toriel stop this!” Dipper protested, rolling to his feet to avoid another projectile. The [ACT] Button was glowing as he spoke.  
“Toriel please! We don’t have to do this!” Mabel pleaded and ducked under another fire blast herself.  
Toriel did not respond to their words, her face set in a stony look of indifference as she sent wave after wave of flame.  
“Momma, I don’t want to fight you!” Tears streamed down Mabel’s face as she tried to get through to the goat-woman that was more of a mother to her than her real one.  
Toriel seemed to hesitate and her eyes welled up slightly with her own tears, but she quickly retook control of herself. She gestured with her hands and a line of fireballs formed in front of her that shot out all at once like a shotgun blast.  
This time the twins couldn’t dodge them all and got hit, Dipper in his right shoulder, stomach, and cheek while Mabel took a hit in her chest that burst away the star on her sweater.  
“There is no other way, fight me or go upstairs.” Toriel said in a tone that was paradoxically motherly and neutral. “I refuse lose another child to that man!”  
Talking doesn’t seem to be the solution.  
Mabel looked devastated while Dipper grit his teeth in frustration.  
“Looks like we don’t have much of a choice.” The boy said to himself as he struggled to his feet. He reached into his vest and took out the large toy knife he found in the ruins, not really a suitable but it was sturdy and he didn’t want to seriously hurt Toriel anyway.  
A part of him was telling him this was a huge mistake.  
The [FIGHT] button began to glow.  
“That’s right, here in the ruins any monsters you encounter can be reasoned with. But not outside, not Asgore and his ilk.” Toriel said with distain and the battle began anew.  
“Dipper, no!” Mabel wailed but it was too late.  
Dipper swung once seemingly harmless toy knife once.  
A deep wound appeared on Toriel, a slash the when from her left cheek, across her back, and over her belly from the left, tearing her dress.  
Shock spread across all three parties as Toriel fell to her knees and clutched the gaping wound on her side. Mabel shrieked and cried, Dipper dropped the knife and recoiled from it in horror.  
“Heheh…heh…you are much stronger than I thought.” Toriel chuckled out weakly as the purple dress darkened with her blood.  
“No…nonono, I didn’t m-mean too, I thought it was just a toy!” Dipper stammered.  
“It is just a toy; this is why we lost so badly against the humans so long ago. A monster soul is nothing compared to a human’s.”  
“Dipper how could you!?” Mabel cried angrily at her brother, why didn’t wouldn’t listen to her!  
Why didn’t you show mercy!  
Dipper was beginning to hyperventilate. “Nonononononono, I’m sorry I didn’t mean too!” He pleaded, tears beginning to well in his chocolate colored eyes.  
“It’s alright Dipper, Mabel, now I know you two can survive out there.” Toriel cooed reassuringly to the twins before coughing up a small bit of blood. “Listen to me little ones; please be good, won’t you?” See asked as her form began to grow fuzzy. “Asgore…do not let Asgore take…your…souls…my children…”  
Her body blew away in a flurry of white and purple dust and all that remained was a tiny, white upside down heart that quivered in the air. Her soul.  
“Toriel…” Dipper dolefully whispered.  
The soul cracked.  
“Momma…” Mabel said weepily.  
The soul shattered, a blew away as its owner did.  
“MOTHER!” They both wailed sorrowfully, falling onto their knees in the dust of the woman that was so kind to them, tears streaming down their faces and clearing channels out of the dust the landing on them.  
“No…no, no, no I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!”  
“Mommy…”  
“I take it back, I take it back, I didn’t want this!”  
“No…”  
“I want to go back, I want to try again!”  
Suddenly, the two found themselves once again within the black void but this time they were alone, and they did not see the outlining of objects around them this time.  
“Where are we? What’s happening now?” Dipper questioned nervously, but Mabel stayed silent and frightened.  
And before them, two “buttons” just like before floated before them.  
[Continue] or [RESET]  
Hesitantly, Dipper reached out to the [RESET] button, and everything went white.


End file.
